Mukul Roy to be India's new Railway Minister

He added the crisis Indian Railways was facing was not an overnight phenomenon, and the last two or three Budgets had contributed to it.

Trivedi's predecessor in the ministry was his current party boss, Banerjee.

Banerjee's rage was no secret.

Minutes after Trivedi finished presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha at about 1.45 pm, a visibly worried TMC parliamentary party chief, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, was seen striding up and down outside Trivedi's room in Parliament, talking on his cell phone to Banerjee.

Mukul Roy to be India's new Railway Minister

"The finance ministry does not have a favourable attitude to West Bengal.

"But, Trivedi has thanked him (Pranab Mukherjee) fervently".

That Mukherjee offered guarded praise for the Budget incensed the Trinamool Congress even more.

"The proposals the Railway Minister has made. . . If they are effectively implemented then surely it will provide the elbow room to the railways to build up the capacity in various areas," Mukherjee said.

Others, however, said Banerjee's reaction was just a tantrum for show.

"It is all concocted and artificial," scoffed Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta.

Mukul Roy to be India's new Railway Minister

"This is a way for Mamata Banerjee to distance herself from a move that is anti-people. If she was really serious about opposing the move she should have walked out of the United Progressive Alliance," he said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance was predictably critical of the Budget.

"It is a directionless and anti-people Budget," BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, adding that without taking effective steps for ensuring security, facility and time, "announcements have been made for an expensive journey".

The Congress was calibrated in its response, not wanting to add to Trivedi's problems: 'The party supports the Railway Budget' was all that spokesman Rashid Alvi would say. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hailed the Budget as 'forward-looking'.